Stable cleaning device



March 24, 1959 G. H. BEssETTiz 2,378,922

STABLE CLEANING DEVICE Filed Sept. '20, 195'? 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENWRMarch 24, 1959 G. H. BESSETTE 2,878,922

STABLE CLEANING DEVICE Filed Sept. 20, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENT 0RGeorges H BESSHTE March 1959 I G. H. BESSETTE 2,878,922

STABLE CLEANING DEVICE Filed Sept. 20, 1957 5 Shee tsSheet a,

NYINM Unit id S te P t STABLE CLEANING DEVICE Georges Henri Bessette,Iberville, Quebec, Canada Application September 20, 1957, Serial No.685,245

5 Claims. (Cl. 198-137) The present invention relates in general toimprovement in the art of transporting or conveying bulk material andrelates more specifically to various improvements in the constructionand operation of stable cleaning devices or the like.

The general object of the present invention is the provision of animproved stable cleaning device which forms a simple and durableinstallation and which is also highly reliable and efficient inoperation.

Stable cleaning devices usually consist of an endless conveyor chainequipped with longitudinally spaced flights extending on one side of thechain and movable in a gutter to collect and convey the refuse andlitter in said gutter to a discharge zone usually located at the upperend of an inclined platform or ramp. The-gutter extends at the back ofthe animals stalls and normally consists of a plurality of straightportions communicating with each other by curved corner portions, someof which make reentrant angles to provide for flexibility of theinstallation. The endless conveyor chain usually extends along one sideof the gutter with the flights extending transversely of said gutter andwhen the chain travels along a reentrant corner, some means has to beprovided to guide the chain on the outside of the corner with respect tothe centre of the are joining the two adjacent straight portions of thegutter. In conventional stable cleaning apparatus, said guiding meansusually consists of fixed plates in sliding engagement with the conveyorchain. Due to the tension existing in the chain, this sliding engagementusually results in consida erable friction thereby necessitating anincrease in the power needed for actuating the system. Idle wheels arealso'provided in other conventional stable cleaning devices but saidwheels are usually disposed in the gutter, or otherwise, in such amanner as to prevent the free movement of the litter or refuse in thereentrant portion of the gutter.

The drive for the endless conveyor chain of the conventional stablecleaning devices usually consists of an electric motor rotating at highspeed and driving the chain at a low speed through the intermediary of acomplicated speed reducing mechanism. Also a free starting and overloadclutch has to be provided between the electric motor and the sprocketwheel actuating the conveyor chain to allow for no load starting of theelectric motor and to prevent damage to the electric motor when theconveyor chain jams. Said clutch mechanism usually consists of afriction disk clutch assembly which has many inconveniences; forexample, it is very diflicult to adjust the friction in said clutchassembly to provide for free starting of the electric motor and at thesame time for positive drive of the conveyor chain when the motor hasattained the desired speed while providing for an overload protection onthe motor. If the friction is not enough, slipping will always occur andif the friction is too much the clutch will freeze and no overloadprotection will be provided.

Moreover, in several types of conventional stable cleaning devices, nomeans are provided for cleaning the flights of the conveyor chain afterthe litter and refuse have been discharged therefrom, whereby the refuseand litter clinging to the flights fradually accumulate thereon.

Accordingly, the main object of the present invention is the provisionof means in a stable cleaning device of the type referred to hereinaboveto obviate the above noted disadvantages. v

A more specific object of the present invention is the provision ofmeans for guiding the conveyor chain along the outside of a reentrantcorner in such a manner as to prevent friction between the guiding meansand the conveyor chain and at the same time to provide for completelyfree passage through said reentrant cornerof the litter and refusecarried by the flights of the chain.-

Still another important object of the present invention is the provisionof a conveyor chain of special construc-' tion whereby said chain isadjustable in length to smalltolerances and wherein any broken flightsmay be readily replaced, and also providing positive engagement with thedriving sprocket wheel, even when the chain links are cluttered withrefuse.

Still another important object of the present invent-ion is theprovision of a stable cleaning device of the character described havingan improved drive of simple ,and inexpensive pawl and ratchetconstruction and which will impart a substantially constant force on theconveyor chain.

Another important object of the present invention is the provision of aconveyor chain drive provided with an improved and centrifugallyactuated clutch to provide for free starting of the electric motor ofthe drive and having overload tripping means to automatically declutchthe motor from the conveyor chain as soon as an excessive load isapplied on the chain. V

Another important object of the present invention is the provision ofmeans for cleaning the flights immediately after they have dischargedtheir load of refuse and litter at a discharge zone.

The foregoing and other important objects of the present invention willbecome more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring tothe drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a partial plan view of the stable cleaning device inaccordance with the invention; j w

Figure 2 is a cross-section along line 2-,-2 of Figurel; Figure 3 is aperspective view of a reentrant corner arrangement;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the drive for the: conveyor chain; tFigure 5 is a partial plan section taken along line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is an enlarged detailed view of the driving sprocket, togetherwith the means for cleaning the flights; Figure 7 is a partial elevationof a modification of the guiding wheels shown in Figure 3;

. Figure 8 is a partial perspective view of the clutching device;

Figure 9 is a longitudinal section of the wheel provided with theclutching device; and

showing its operation.

Figure 10 is a partial plan view of the clutching device Referring nowmore particularly to the drawingsin which like reference charactersindicate like elements.

throughout, reference character A indicates a floor of a (not shown).The trough or gutter B is adapted to receive and collect the litter andrefuse from the stalls. An;

3 endless conveyor chain 1 equipped with transverse flights 2 is adaptedto move or travel along one side of the gutter B with the flights 2scraping the bottom of the gutter and conveying the litter and refuse upan inclined platform or ramp 3 at a discharge zone 4 where it iscollected as manure.

The ramp 3 normally extends to a point outside of the barn and may havea substantial length. Therefore, the ramp 3 normally incorporates boththe go and return paths 5 and 6 of the conveyor chain. In order tosuitably locate the various sections of the gutter B inside the barn andalso to provide for flexibility of the whole stable cleaningarrangement, the gutter B is usually made of straight sections makingright-angles with each other and providing both types of corners, namelyreentrant or inside corners, as indicated at 7, and outside corners, asindicated at 8.

There is usually no problem involved in the movement of the conveyorchain 1, flights 2 and litter or refuse carried thereby around theoutside corners 8: the chain is guided on'the inside of the corners 8 bymeans of an idle wheel 9 of conventional construction and mounted forfree rotation about a vertical shaft 10.

To move around a reentrant corner 7, the conveyor chain 1 must travelalong the outside of said corner 7 and must be retained in this positionby means of suitable guiding members. Said guiding members must be suchas to minimize friction and also not to hinder the movement of thelitter and refuse carried by the flights 2.

In accordance with the present invention, the guiding means comprisesthree idle wheels 11', 11". Each guiding wheel is freely rotatable on adownwardly inclined shaft 12, which is itself adjustably secured to abracket 13 anchored in the concrete of the floor A. The three brackets13 are welded at their lower end to a common anchoring member 14. Eachbracket 13 is provided with a longitudinal slot 15 through which extendsthe shaft 12, which is itself secured to a base plate 16 in contact withthe back of the bracket 13 and which is secured in any longitudinallyadjusted position by means of bolts 17.

Each bracket 13 is inclined at substantially 45 with respect to thehorizontal and overhangs part of the gutter B; therefore, the shaft 12of each guiding wheel extends downwardly towards the gutter at asubstantially 45 angle with the floor surface. The axis of the twooutside guiding wheels 11' extend in vertical planes at rightangles tothe longitudinal axis of the gutter section with which said guidingwheels are associated, while the intermediate guiding wheel 11" has itsaxis lying in a plane substantially bisecting the vertical planescontaining the axes of the two outside wheels 11'. In the example shownin Figure l, in which the gutter sections B and B" form a right-anglewith respect to each other and are joined by the curved corner portion7, the axes of the two outside wheels 11 make a 90 angle with each otherand a 45 angle with the axis of the centre guiding wheel 11".

When the conveyor chain 1 is of conventional construction and consistsof a plurality of connected links forming closed loops extending atright-angles to one another, as shown at 1a in Figure 7, each guidingwheel may consist of a disk 11a provided at its periphery with aplurality of spaced, outwardly projecting spacer members 18 having anoutwardly directed L-shaped recess 19 engageable with the links of thechain 1a. More particularly, the lowermost spacer member 18, as shown inFigure 7, will have one face of the recess 19 in a vertical plane toengage the vertical link of the chain 1a and space the same from theperiphery of the disk 11a so that the adjacenthorizontally extendinglinks will not come in contact with the periphery of the disk 11a.

When the guiding wheels are used in conjunction with the particularchain construction to be described hereinafter, said wheels have asmooth peripheral surface with 4 a concave cross-section, as clearlyshown in Figure 2 at 20.

The conveyor chain, in accordance with the present invention, is made ofa plurality of connected links 21 which are readily disconnectable onefrom the other. Each link 21 consists of a straight, middle portionprovided with terminal portions 22 extending in planes at right-anglesto each other and forming U-shaped open hooks. Thus the hook of one linkwill engage with the right, angularly disposed hook of the adjacent linkand the links may be readily disconnected so as to add or remove linksto adjust the overall length of the conveyor chain 1.

It will be noted that with this arrangement, the smooth peripheralportion 20 of the guiding wheels 11', 11" will engage only thetransversely disposed hook 22, as clearly shown in Figure 2, while theremaining part of each link will not contact the wheel to therebyprovide for smooth engagement of the conveyor chain with each guidingwheel.

The flights 2 simply consist of angle irons having a vertical flange 23adapted to engage and scrape the bottom of the gutter B, and ahorizontal flange 24 which is welded to the bottom of a link 21 in sucha manner that the chain 1 extends above the horizontal flange 24 of theflights 2 to provide a rib above said flights engageable by the guidingwheels 11', 11".

From the foregoing arrangement it will be clear that the guiding wheels11, 11" exert an outwardly directed force on the conveyor chain 1 tothereby maintain the same close to the outside wall of the reentrantcorner 7. The guiding wheels rotate together with the forward movementof the chain, whereby no frictional force or resistance is developedbetween the wheels and the chain. It will be noted that due to theupward inclination of the wheels, the space above the flights 2 is notobstructed and there is free movement of the litter around the reentrantcorner.

The outside wall of the gutter B at the reentrant corner 7 is preferablylined with a curved steel plate 25.

At the junction of the horizontal gutter sections with the ramp 3, theconveyor chain 1 is engaged by idle rollers 26 which rotate onhorizontal shafts.

At the upper end, or discharge zone of the ramp 3, the conveyor chain 1is engaged by a driving sprocket wheel 27, as shown in Figures 4 and 5.The teeth 27 of the sprocket 27 are substantially square and are spacedapart at such a distance as to engage the vertical open hook 22 of eachsuccessive chain link 21. In this manner any litter or refuse clingingto the links of the conveyor chain does not prevent perfect engagementof the teeth of the sprocket 27 with the said links; more particularly,it will not cause jumping of the links out of the teeth of the sprocketor sticking of the links on said teeth, as often happens in aconventional chain construction in which the ends of the teeth of thesprocket have to enter through the closed loops formed by the links ofthe chain. With the chain construction in accordance with the presentinvention, there is no necessity for radial movement of the chain withrespect to the sprocket teeth for the latter to engage the chain links.Any litter or refuse clinging inside the hooks 22 will be simplysqueezed by engagement with the teeth of the sprocket.

It will be noted that this feature is particularly important when thecleaning device is operating in winter time when the refuse is liable tobecome frozen and form a solid mass adhering to the links of the chain.

The sprocket 27 is driven by a novel drive arrangement, moreparticularly shown in Figures 4 and 5, which incorporates an improvedclutching device, shown in Fig ures 8 to 10 inclusive.

A metal beam 28 projects outwardly from the inclined ramp 3 and isprovided with a bracket 29 for the bearing 30 of the shaft 31 to thelower end of which the sprocket 27 is secured. The upper end of theshaft 31 is fast with a large diameter ratchet wheel 32. A drive shaft33 is mounted for rotation in blocks 34 secured to the beam 28 by meansof the upright member 35. Three cam disks 36 are eccentrically mountedand secured to the driving shaft 33. The cam disks 36 are mutually at120 out-of-phase. Each disk 36 is surrounded by a circular loop 37 insliding engagement with the periphery thereof and an arm 38 is securedto each loop 37 and mounts at its outer end a pivoted pawl member 39which is maintained in engagement with the ratchet teeth of the ratchetwheel 32 under the action of a spring 40 connected to a lateral arm 41,depending from arm 38, and to a stationary bracket member 42 mounted onthe beam 28.

The teeth of the ratchet Wheel 32 have a width suflicient to be engagedby the three pawl members 39 which are disposed side by side. It will beunderstood that due to the phase displacement of the cam disks 36, theduration of the effective strokes of the pawls 39 will be overlapping sothat the resulting torque imparted to the ratchet wheel 32 by the shaft33 will be substantially constant, while the reduction of speed betweenthe driving shaft 33 and driven shaft 31 will be considerable.

The driving shaft 33 is rotated through the intermediary of a largediameter wheel 43 which incorporates a clutching device. The largediameter wheel 43 is freely rotatable on the driving shaft 33 and isconnected to the electric motor 44 through belt 45.

The clutching device comprises said wheel 43, on the surface of which ispivotally mounted at 46 a centrifugally operated hook member 47. Thehook member 47 comprises a hooking face 48 and a weighted outer end 49which is urged radially inwardly by means of a calibrated tension spring50. As shown in Figure 10, radial outward movement of the weighted end49 of the hook member 47, under the centrifugal force produced uponrotation of the wheel 43, will cause pivotal movement of the hook face48 from a radially inward position, in full line, to a radial outwardposition, shown in dotted line. A radially extending arm 52 is rigidlysecured to the driving shaft 33 and extends in close proximity to theface of the wheel 43 provided with the hook member 47. A lever 53 ispivoted at 54 to the outer end of the radial arm 52. The lever 53 isurged into a radially inward position, shown in full line in Figure 10,under the action of a calibrated tension spring 55 connected between thearm 52 and the outer end of the lever 53. The lever 53 is provided, nearits pivotal connection 54, with a stud 56 directed towards the wheel 43and disposed at such a radial distance from the center of the wheel 43that, in the radially inward position of said stud 56 and in the inwardposition of the hook face 48 of the hook member 47, said studs 56 willjust clear said hooking face 48 and will be engaged thereby in theradially outward position of said hooking face 48, thereby providingclutching engagement between the wheel 43 and the driving shaft 33, saidclutching engagement taking place only when the wheel, and the electricmotor have reached predetermined speeds of rotation. If for any reason,for instance like jamming of the conveyor chain under the weight orcondition of the litter and refuse in the gutter, the motor becomessubjected to overloading, the resulting increased pressure exerted bythe hooking face 48 on the stud 56 will cause outward pivotal movementof the lever 53 against the action of the calibrated spring 55, wherebythe stud will take a radially outward position to clear the outer end ofthe hook and provide for release of the clutching engagement between thedriving shaft 33 and the wheel 43.

The stable cleaning device, in accordance with the present invention, isfurther provided with means for cleaning the flights 2 just after theyhave discharged their load of refuse and litter at the discharge zone 4.Said cleaning means are shown in Figures 4 and 6. The beam 28, at theouter end of which the shaft 31 is mounted, is provided with anextension member 57 providing at its outer end a pivot 58 for a scraperrod 59. The pivot 58 is radially inwardly offset with respect to theroot end 60 of the oncoming flight 2'. The scraper rod 59 is formed oftwo mutually inclined portions 61, 61' and the outer end portion 61 ofsaid rod 59 is downwardly directed, as shown at 62 in Figure 4, toengage the vertical flange 23 of the oncoming flight 2'. The portion 620f the scraper rod 59, when contacting the oncoming flight 2, will slideradially outwardly of said flight 2, due to the offset position of thepivot 58, until it clears the outer end of said flight. A tension spring63 returns the scraper rod 59 into its initial position ready to contactand scrape the next flight. This simple arrangement provides foreflicient cleaning of the refuse and litter still clinging to theflights which then move and slide along the support rod 64 whichconstitutes the return path 6 of the conveyor on the ramp 3.

While a preferred embodiment of the stable cleaning device in accordancewith the present invention has been illustrated and described, it isunderstood that various modifications may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a stable cleaning device including an endless conveyor chainhaving a portion thereof along an arc joining one rectilinear extent ofsaid chain at an angle to an adjacent rectilinear extent and transverseflights secured at spaced intervals to the underside of said chain andprojecting towards the center of said arc; guiding means for said chaincomprising at least three idler wheels disposed at said are portion andat the are adjacent ends of said rectilinear extents said Wheels havingtheir periphery engageable with said chain, and being rotatable on axesinclined downwardly towards the center of said are at an angle of theorder of 45 to exert on said chain an outwardly directed force and toguide said chain substantially along said arc, and brackets mountingsaid wheels, extending on the outside of said are.

2. The guiding means of claim 1, the axes of the two outer wheels ofsaid idler wheels lying in vertical planes making a right-angle with therespective arc-adjacent ends of the rectilinear extents of said conveyorchain and the middle one of said idler Wheels having its axis lying in avertical plane bisecting the angle formed by the planes containing theaxes of the two outer wheels.

3. The guiding means of claim 1, wherein the chain engaging periphery ofeach idler wheel has a concave cross-section.

4. The guiding means of claim 1, wherein each wheel is rotatably mountedon a shaft adjustably mounted on the corresponding bracket in a verticalplane.

5. The guiding means of claim 1, each idler wheel consisting of a diskhaving at its periphery, spaced outwardly projecting platesperpendicular to said disc, each plate having an outwardly facingL-shaped recess for engaging the chain links.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

